Tuesday, June 27, 2006

France Update #2

Salut from Roubaix!!

Team France is now writing from the second leg of our Deputation journey. We all made the 3 hour car-ride to Lille (still in France) about four days ago. Our team is spread out among two homes: Alec and Mac are living with an Algerian man named Amar (who we hear is quite the host) in the Centre de Lille, while Riley and Kaitlyn are living in Belgium with a delightful British missionary family. Yes that's right, Belgium! We're only about 100 yards from the French border, but we think it's pretty exciting nonetheless.

We are working in Roubaix with Ali Arhab, in a ministry focused on reaching out to the poor and unemployed North African population through street evangelism and games with youth. Yesterday we worked on cleaning up the office and getting it ready for a team of 12 high school students coming in to work from Minnesota. We continue to be overwhelmed by the love and hospitality here. God has a way of blowing expectations out of the water, and I think that in our anxiousness to serve and be useful, we're receiving a lot more encouragement and wisdom from everyone around us than we had anticipated. We are all excited to see how God will work through us, sometimes forgetting that he's working IN us all the while.

The churches here are much smaller than most of us are used to (usually 200 people maximum) but with that comes incredible fellowship. We just all got together at Ali's house to eat couscous (an Algerian staple that we're sure to have our fill of) and later on we're all watching the football (soccer) game. The World Cup is everything in Europe right now, and it's pretty exciting to be here for it!

We all send our love and continue to be especially thankful to all those who are praying for us throughout the summer. Some specific things to pray for:~ That we will be able to reach out despite the language barrier~ That we all stay focused of Christ and that our spirits are molded through every situation~ For the ministry here in Roubaix and that we will serve as an encouragement to Ali and everyone else

2 comments:

Happy 22nd birthday to Macman tommorrow. Great to hear everyone is in good hands and being treated so well! Keep up the awesome work y'all. We'll watch some American fireworks in honor of your mission! God bless.